Our Thanksgiving was a blast! We had some of David's family come to us and it was great! As flights were half as much to fly on Thanksgiving day, everyone flew in that night...Rosie and Peter from Dallas, and Ken from Tucson. While they were flying during the day, David and I headed out and did some shopping to get some of the good deals. David enjoys the waiting in line experience...he must be a little crazy...but he really enjoys getting to know the people he is in line with and the craziness of it all! I am not kidding. He stood in line to get a laptop for his dad and was the first in line. I am not supposed to mention that there were about 20 laptops left over once 10:00 came and they were all handed out as it defeats the purpose of waiting in line for it, but that usually doesn't happen. It just downplays the importance and awesomeness of him being first in line, so don't tell David :)
I went around the store looking for all sorts of good deals I wanted to check out. I picked up some little things here and there including lots of pillows (we were desperate for new ones and we had company coming), a new big memory card (a puppy got a hold of my last one somehow), other fun stuff for everyone, and some goldfish to keep Katelyn happy through it all! I am a sucker for some good deals! The rest of our Christmas shopping was done online and sent right to the lucky people!
Once everyone's flights came in, we chatted and Katelyn fell in love with Rosie and Peter's goofiness! My high-5's are so boring compared to theirs! They were her new best friends and she loved "Wosie and Peter and Dampa Ten"
Black Friday was our Thanksgiving day. We cooked up our favorite parts of the meal and got sad news that my good friend Terryn and her family weren't going to be able to make it since they were all sick. We had to make our own pies, but I missed out on not being able to catch up with her and spunkiness! I get to see her this week and they aren't sick so we are all happy campers.
Rosie and Peter had a turkey delivered to our door a couple days before and it was heavenly. They ordered it from Greenberg Smoked Turkeys and it was awesome! Not only did I not have to prepare and cook a turkey, but it tasted great! I warmed it up for an hour in the oven and then we cut it up and ate it...delicious! If you don't like the smokey flavor then it isn't for you, but we all loved it and couldn't stop sneaking little nibbles before dinner while the rolls finished cooking!
I didn't mind cooking up the sides and I loved that we ate at our place and we had lots of yummy leftovers! I also liked that we didn't have to make the dishes that we didn't want...like green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. I only made the best :) I missed the fruit salad that my mom always makes, but other than that I think we hit all the stops on our yummy feast! Tricia made a yummy dirt cake that we all liked more than the pie and the left the extras with me...I mean us, but I might have been the lone lucky eater! I am fast like that coming from a family of 12. Odd thing...David asked about that oreo dirt cake like a week ago wondering if it was gone...over a month past silly boy!
After the fun of eating, I made everyone embarrass themselves playing some great Minute To Win It games. I have a highlight video on its way!
The next day we were a little slow getting going and Rosie and Peter got right on it and explored the inner harbor in Baltimore.
That was a great thing about them staying at the hotel and having a car...They didn't have to wait for us slow pokes and were able to see some of the sites in Baltimore and in D.C. while we were just trying to get dressed, ready, fed, just in time for nap time, and then we were ready to get out on the town! We enjoyed a yummy meal at the Cheesecake Factory and caught a Christmas light show in the harbor.
Sunday, November 25th (Happy Birthday Chad!) David blessed Davy. It was sweet and simple and of course he was an angel and didn't even cry or attempt to out-do Katelyn's nasty blow-out on her blessing day. Thank you Davy! I want to take some more close up pictures of the blessing outfit and post those.
Monday we set up a fun day. We traded cars with a friend...Thanks again Tami... and used her minivan for the day. If fit all of us just right and we drove off to explore D.C. for the day. We drove down and parked the car for the day and met up with our escorts for the day...DC Trolley Tours. It was perfect for our group. We hopped on and off all day at different stops and got a little bit of a history lesson and explanation of the buildings, monuments, and landmarks in D.C. We brought along a carrier pouch and I carried Davy all day nuzzled in close to me. We brought an umbrella stroller for Katelyn and Ken didn't get wiped out from walking to see everything so it was great being dropped off at whichever stops we wanted and then jumping back on once we were done taking pictures and seeing what we wanted to see! I thought about figuring out and creating my own self driven tour where we could park and get out to take pictures, but I didn't have the time and energy and knowledge to put that together and we all loved the trolley ride around town. I definitely recommend it!
We spent extra time at the Lincoln Monument. Ken was very eager to see it and would have been happy if that was all he saw! Rosie and Peter saw it at night and I want to go tour at night sometime because they said it is really neat to see the monuments lit up at night.
We also stopped at the Arlington Cemetary and booked it up to the top to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was neat and it is such a peaceful place. I was so focused on watching the ceremony and then Katelyn yelled out into the silent reverence, "Hi Mommy!" David was standing with her up above where we were and she spotted me in the down below and let us all hear her excitement :)
We finished the loop of the main tour and were hungry and we had lunch at Qdoba since Rosie and Peter had never been and we all left with happy bellies! We finished off the day at the National Archives museum and realized that there is so much more there than the original documents of the Bill of Rights, The Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. (I think there was another one there...maybe the Magna Carta?) But we walked around and read up on the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis and explored the museum part of that building. I had to take a break to feed Davy and didn't realize it was closing time. They were ready to go home or they had some other event they were getting ready for because they wanted us out right that second! I cut Davy's feeding short and he wasn't happy about that! Ken was in the bathroom and they rushed him out too! Sheesh! There was still two minutes till closing time :)
We all loved all that we could see and headed home. We ordered pizza in and chilled for the night. The next morning we cooked up some these yummy crepes and sauce! I started making these when Julia came to visit in September and can't stop! They are soooo good and I am a sucker for fresh fruit and the yummy sweet cream cheese sauce...gotta love pinterest! Peanut butter, Nutella and Bananas is yummy too! I underestimated how fast they would go and we had to make another batch of the batter...yum! I also loved having people around that help clean and cook! Rosie and Peter are the "clean up right away" type and I so wish I was, but I am not! They clean up and it goes so fast and they were always done with dishes by the time I put the milk away in the fridge. I am a slow cleaner...but they are fast! It is so nice having someone that keeps my kitchen clean...and plays with Katelyn and gets her giggling!
I am realizing that so much of this post has to do with food...isn't that part of the awesomeness of Thanksgiving? I loved eating up the leftovers and then I froze the turkey once the mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy were gone. Oh that darn gravy...I wish I knew how to make the really good homemade kind with the drippings from the turkey that was freshly prepared, but the two times I have tried did NOT turn out very edible so we opted for store bought which was fine, but I know what the good stuff tastes like so I have a high standard for my gravy and haven't been able to match it with anything I have made or bought.
Despite the gravy dilemma, I loved our Thanksgiving weekend! I love having the business of family and people over. I always have some withdrawals after it is all over and want to spend more time with everyone. There just isn't enough time and we all live too far away and have to live responsible grown up lives and not spend all of our money and quit our jobs to hang out with our families all the time. Shucks!
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